The Backheel Boys

Lionel Messi was the winner of Ballon d'Or 2009. He outscored each of his competitors, including Cristiano Ronaldo, Kaka, and his own Barca's mate like Xavi and Andres Iniesta.

Messi beat last year's winner, Cristiano Ronaldo, into second place by a record margin and becomes the sixth Barcelona player to take the award and the first since Brazil's Ronaldinho in 2005.

The Argentinian Little Wizard, 22, was the top scorer in last season's Champions League with nine goals, including his header he thumped in during the 2-0 victory against bitter rival, Cristiano's Manchester United. He also scored six times in Copa del Rey and found the net on 23 occasions in the Spanish league.

Messi won the Ballon d'Or, which is voted by journalists across the world and organised by France Football magazine, by a 240-point margin. The award's 96 voters gave Messi 473 points out of a possible 480, a near unanimous verdict.

It is common for a key player for a team that won six titles in a year to get such award. Later on, Messi won another award, the FIFA World Player of the Year, hosted by FIFA. This award is voted by all nations' coaches and captains, which Messi once again outscored everybody, including CR9.

The full result for Ballon d'Or is as followed:

Individual standings

1 Lionel Messi (Argentina, Barcelona), 473 points

2 Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal, Real Madrid), 233

3 Xavi (Spain, Barcelona), 170

4 Andres Iniesta (Spain, Barcelona), 149

5 Samuel Eto'o (Cameroon, Internazionale), 75

6 Kaká (Brazil, Real Madrid), 58

7 Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Sweden, Barcelona), 50

8 Wayne Rooney (England, Manchester United), 35

9 Didier Drogba (Ivory Coast, Chelsea), 33

10 Steven Gerrard (England, Liverpool), 32

11 Fernando Torres (Spain, Liverpool), 22

12 Cesc Fábregas (Spain, Arsenal), 13

13 Edin Dzeko (Bosnia, Wolfsburg), 12

14 Ryan Giggs (Wales, Manchester United), 11

15 Thierry Henry (France, Barcelona), 9

16= Luis Fabiano (Brazil, Sevilla) 8

16= Nemanja Vidic (Serbia, Manchester United), 8

16= Iker Casillas (Spain, Real Madrid), 8

19 Diego Forlan (Uruguay, Atlético Madrid), 7

20 Yoann Gourcuff (France, Bordeaux), 6

21= Andrey Arshavin (Russia, Arsenal), 5

21= Júlio César (Brazil, Inter), 5

21= Frank Lampard (England, Chelsea), 5

24 Maicon (Brazil, Inter), 4

25 Diego (Brazil, Juventus), 3

26= David Villa (Spain, Valencia), 2

26= John Terry (England, Chelsea), 2

28 Franck Ribéry (France, Bayern Munich), 1

28= Yaya Touré (Ivory Coast, Barcelona), 1

30 Karim Benzema (France, Real Madrid), 0

At the end, we would like to congratulate Lionel Messi for all the awards and accolades he has won in 2009. Hopefully, he'll stay humble and keep entertaining football lovers with his style.